The final day of our trip started bright and early at 12:00 am when our bus picked us up to take us to the Larnaca Airport. It was weird heading down the streets of Limassol with all of our luggage knowing we were going to the airport and not another cultural site or company visit. …

Our last day started at Bernard Schulte Shipmanagement Training Center right in Limassol. This was one of my favorite company visits of the trip. I appreciated that it wasn’t a traditional sit down lecture and that we were able to learn while we toured the facility. My favorite room we got to see was the…

Today started at Vassiliko Cement Works. Concrete is the world’s second most consumed material behind water as well as Cyprus’ third largest export. First, we listened to a presentation that detailed the process of concrete production. Vassiliko Cement Works first takes raw materials, like limestone and clay from its own quarries, and fires them in…

Our last day at UNIC began with a lecture on cryptocurrency and blockchain. I have very little knowledge in both of these subjects (I honestly didn’t know what blockchain and crypto were before today) so I was interested in learning at least a little bit about this side of the business world. The first thing…

Once we got off the bus, we walked down to the beach, which was different than I expected. My first problem was figuring out which rock sticking out of the water was the right one. As Demetria explained to us, Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, was born from the sea foam on the coast…

Once we left Limassol for the day, our bus passed through one of Cyprus’ agricultural towns. Although it used to be a swamp, the area is now one of the largest agricultural areas in Cyprus and the island’s largest citrus producer, according to our tour guide Demetria. Along with the many lemon trees I saw…

Today started with a short bus ride to Limassol Port for our first company visit of the day. First, we heard from representatives from the company DP World. After the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus in 1974, and therefore the closing of the largest port in Cyprus, a larger port was built in Limassol.  One…

After another great breakfast at Pi, we headed to the Wargaming Headquarters on the bus. Once we arrived, we were greeted by Wargaming employees who led us on a tour of the building. We started on the lower level where our guide talked about the work-life balance that Wargaming tries to uphold. This is evident…

Day 5 was a busy one. We started the day off in Larnaca by visiting the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute or CMMI. One of the main goals of CMMI is to make shipping, which is a huge industry in Cyprus, more sustainable. As we learned today, shipping transports 80% of the world’s goods but represents…

Today we traveled to the Turkish-occupied region of Cyprus to visit the city of Famagusta. In order to do so, we had to cross through the green line which divides the Republic of Cyprus from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The first things we saw as we crossed the border into Turkish territory were…

Today I got to learn so much about Cyprus and the local culture. Starting off with breakfast, I got my first taste of halloumi cheese which I really enjoyed. After breakfast, we headed to the University of Nicosia to learn from local professors. First we heard about the history of Cyprus from Dr. Emilios Solomou. Even…

We finally landed in Cyprus!! Once we exited the airport, we were greeted by warm weather and some sunshine. Luckily, according to Christina, we just missed the storm. Next, we were off to Limassol via bus. Although I was very tired, I wanted to take in my first views of Cyprus.  The first thing I…

Although we haven’t even arrived at our destination yet, our trip to Cyprus has begun! Friday night was a great chance to get to know everybody in the group, whether through a heated Jeopardy game, a trip to CVS, or bedazzling some cameras. Saturday started by saying goodbye to some friends who were staying in…